We All Have Secrets
by Hamato Noskonia
Summary: After an argument with his brothers, Michelangelo runs off into the sewers, heading anywhere but home. He meets a girl named Leera, who has a little Lair of her own. Leera seems friendly, and even completely human, but Mikey and his easily-trusting nature eventually learn that things aren't always what they seem.
1. Chapter 1: Having a Thought

**Mikey's P.O.V.**

"Fine!" I yelled. "I guess I'll just go then, since you guys clearly don't need me!"

"Mikey…!"

I grabbed my skateboard and jumped off the roof. I ran as fast as I could, making sure to stay in the shadows like Sensei told us to. I knew my bros were trying to run after me, but I didn't want them to catch me. Not today. They're always treating me like I'm not capable of doing things myself, which I am! I'm 15, for crying out loud!

I ran into an alley and sat down to catch my breath. My mask was soaked with tears.

I know I'm not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I do have some good ideas every once in a while; surely my bros would have noticed that?

I need to get moving. They're getting closer to where I am; I can hear them calling my name. Hmm, that doesn't seem very smart. Have they forgotten about the whole 'ninjas have to be silent' thing? Leo's constantly reminding us about it. Perhaps I'm not alone on that topic.

I noticed a manhole cover on the ground a few feet away. I tried to pull it out, but it seems to have rusted in place. Even my Hot Nun Chuck Fury couldn't loosen it.

I looked around desperately; my brothers were getting closer. I looked under a dumpster, hoping to find something I could use, and found a crowbar.

"Mikey! Come back!" I need to hurry.

It must have been _years_ since someone last opened this manhole. With some last-minute Hot Nun Chuck Fury, I lifted the cover out of the ground and put the crow bar in my belt; it could come in handy. I quickly grabbed my skateboard and hopped down; I used the crowbar to make sure that the cover was securely backed in place. I put my skateboard down and hopped on. I rode through the main tunnel, taking a turn every now and then to randomize my path. I wasn't going home.

I've been walking for what seemed like hours with my skateboard under my arm. I sighed; all the tunnels look the same. I turned a corner into a slightly thinner tunnel. Is it just me, or is it getting smaller? Sure enough, the tunnel was getting thinner. In a few minutes, I had to walk sideways to fit. Should I turn around?

Hold on…I'm getting an idea.

Whoever made this tunnel must have made it this way to make people would _want _to turn around. That must mean that there's something important at the end of this tunnel, right?

My shell was almost scraping against the walls now. Yes! A door! Finally! I really hope it's not locked…Whew. It's not. I turned the handle and stepped into the room. It was a round room, and there were rocks all over the floor. The ceiling was less than a meter away from the top of my head. The room was about the size of the kitchen at home.

Oh, how I miss home.

This room was completely empty; there weren't even any doors in it! I put my skateboard beside the wall and walked along it, checking for secret passages, but I didn't find any. I decided to leave, since there obviously wasn't anything interesting in here. As I walked back to the door, I tripped one of the rocks and bonked my head on the wall. I fell over backwards onto the uncomfortable rocks.

When I opened my eyes, I almost smacked myself in frustration. There is a trapdoor in the ceiling. I stood to get a closer look. It's a simple trapdoor, painted grey to blend in with the ceiling. I unlocked it using my crowbar and pushed it open. I put my crowbar back in my belt and jumped into the new space. I closed the trapdoor and looked around. There was a big stack of blankets in the corner, beside a cardboard box with a radio on it. A bookshelf occupied one of the walls. There was some other junk lying around the room, mainly screwdrivers and paint and that kind of stuff. There was a doorway that led to other rooms; probably the kitchen and bedroom.

Could someone be living here? Probably.

I walked over to the radio that was on the table and picked it up. It looked handmade, like something Donnie would make, except Donnie's version would be cooler with a built-in CD player or a touch screen or a song selector or…

Donnie. I miss him already. He is kind, tall, caring, smart, and secretly my favorite brother.

I wanted to go back, but I'm sure they would do fine without me.

I set the radio back on the table. The next thing I knew, my head hurt and everything turned black.

**Leera's P.O.V.**

I was freaking out. I had just found a giant turtle in my living room and knocked it out with the crowbar I carefully pulled from its belt. It had an orange mask and a belt with a pair of nun chucks in it. After I after I tossed it onto my couch, I tied its wrists and ankles together with rope. I then hid the nun chucks under the table. Once all that stuff was done, I bent over to get a closer look at it.

It had an orange mask with short tails in the back, cloth material around its feet and three-fingered hands, and freckles on its cheeks. I'm gonna take a guess that it's a he and is around…15?

I never really had much patience, so I got a cup of cold water from the kitchen and dumped it on his face.

He bolted upright instantly, but because his wrists and ankles were tied together, he fell off the couch. He struggled against the rope, but relaxed when he realized it was useless.

"Relax; I'm not gonna hurt you." I said. "What's your name?"

"My name's Michelangelo, but you can call me Mikey." His bright blue eyes clearly told me that he was scared and confused.

"I'm Leera. So what are you doing here?"

"Well, my brothers didn't like me so I ran away. Then I found this place."

"You have brothers?"

"Yeah, three. They're mutant turtles like me. I'm the youngest, so they always treat me like I can't do anything myself."

"You're pretty lucky, you know. To have brothers. I wish I had a family." I picked a pair of scissors off the floor and sliced through the rope.

"Do you…live here?" asked Mikey.

"Yeah, I'm all alone here. I used to have a family, but…they didn't like me anymore and I left."

"I'll be your friend, Leera!" he said. "My bros and I live in the sewers too, so we could visit each other."

"I thought you didn't want to go back home."

"Oh yeah. Hey, where's my nun chucks?" I took them out from under my cardboard table and gave them back to him. I then sat down on the floor in front of him.

"Why didn't your family like you anymore?" asked Mikey. I looked at the ground. I was never a fan of sad stories.

"I…they used to like me. But then, I got kidnapped for…a few weeks, I think. I don't remember who kidnapped me or what happened to me, but…one day, I just…came home. I remember my family running to hug me, but then…they screamed and…I ran away."

"Do you know why they screamed?" His face seemed full of concern.

"I…no." I couldn't tell him the real reason yet; I just met him, after all.

"Um…is it okay if I spend the night here?" asked Mikey. "I don't want to go home yet."

"Sure. You can move all the junk out of the way and take the couch apart. You can listen to the radio to fall asleep, if you want." I didn't care if he took my couch apart, since all it is is just a stack of blankets. I went into my bedroom and closed the door.

_Maybe tomorrow after breakfast I could meet his brothers. _I thought.

I took off my jacket, shoes and beanie. I looked in the mirror.

_And maybe I'll show him what I really look like. He is a mutant too, after all._

I hung onto the metal bar sticking out from the ceiling and fell asleep to the sound of music.

**Review! **

**BTW, Leera is about Mikey's height, has straight black hair, and wears sneakers, jeans, and a black and neon green shirt that you can't see because of her red jacket. Also she has a light blue beanie that she wears all the time and has silvery eyes.**

**More reviews = faster update!**


	2. Chapter 2: Fruit Bat

Mikey's eyes slowly started to open. He didn't want to wake up, but he knew he had to. If he was late for morning training, Splinter would kick his shell. Mikey sat up.

His thoughts quickly drifted from 'Mmm...pizza...mmm' to 'WHERE THE HECK AM I?!'. Mikey stood up, and the memories of the previous day flooded back.

"Ready for breakfast?" asked Leera as she walked in. Mikey nodded.

"Do you have pizza?" asked Mikey. Leera smiled. "Probably."

While Leera was making breakfast, Mikey went through the trapdoor to get his skateboard. When he returned, Leera walked into the room with two plates of pizza pockets.

"Do you know how to use chopsticks?" asked Leera. Mikey nodded. "I use them all the time at home." Leera handed him a pair of chopsticks and kept a pair for herself.

Once the pizza pockets were done, Leera said: "Now, let's go to your place." Mikey's happy mood suddenly dropped.

"I'm sure they're fine without me."

"Mikey, they're probably worried sick about you. Just because they might not treat you the way you wish they did doesn't mean that they don't care about you. I'm sure that they never wanted you to run away in the first place."

"But..._you _ran away."

"That's because I knew for sure that my family didn't love me anymore. I had no choice but to leave." There was a short pause before Mikey replied.

"Ok, let's go!" Mikey had grabbed his skateboard and was already in the rock room before Leera could say another word. Leera jumped into the trapdoor after him, and then followed him through the hallway. When they stepped out into the main sewer tunnel, Mikey stopped walking.

"What's wrong?" asked Leera. "I just remembered that I have know idea where i am or where the Lair is."

"The lair?"

"That's what my bros and I call our home."

"Well, then let's just get out of the sewers. It'll be easier to navigate up there."

"What? No. I can't go topside in the day! Everyone will see me! It's easy for you, 'cuz you're human, but I'm not."

Leera smiled on the inside. Finally, someone who thought of her as a normal person, even though he's a mutant.

_We're not that different, really. _thought Leera. Mikey noticed that Leera went silent.

"What?"

"Nothing. We can stay on the rooftops."

"Ok." When they climbed onto the nearest rooftop, Mikey realized that none of his surroundings were familiar, except the TCRI building in the distance.

"If we go that way," said Mikey, pointing to the TCRI building, "I'll be able to find my way home from there. Can you jump over the gaps?"

"Yeah."

"Then eat my dust!" yelled Mikey as he hopped onto his skateboard and zoomed off. Leera was never a fast runner, or a good jumper, but whatever had happened to her when she was kidnapped had changed that. No, they hadn't made her more athletic; they made her something better.

Mikey was at least 3 buildings away now.

Leera took off her jacket and tied it around her waist, exposing her leathery bat wings. She took off after Mikey. Luckily, Mikey had never looked back while he was riding, so when he started to slow down, Leera flew down to the rooftop that he was on, untied her jacket, and put it back on. She was normal once more.

Mikey picked up his skateboard and turned around, expecting Leera to be maybe a couple buildings away. He jumped back with a shriek when he saw her standing right behind him.

"How are you so fast?!" he asked. Leera smiled. "I have my ways. So where to now?"

"This way." said Mikey as he jumped off the rooftop. Leera flew down the other side, and then walked over to where he was. Leera then followed Mikey into an alley and down the manhole that was hidden there.

After a few minutes of walking, during which Mikey told her about his family, they arrived at the lair. As soon as they walked through the turnstiles, Donnie, Leo and Raph zoomed over to Mikey, squeezing him in a group hug.

"Mikey, don't ever do that again!" said Leo. "We were worried sick about you!"

When Mikey's brothers let go of him, they saw Leera standing there.

"Mikey, who's this?" asked Donnie.

"Oh, guys, this is Leera. She lives in the sewers like us! Leera, this is Donnie, Raph, and Leo."

"Hi." said Leera as she gave them a small wave. "Nice place."

"Thanks." said Raph.

Soon, after they sat down in the TV pit, they started talking about random stuff: how Mikey met her, that Donnie has his own lab, the mutants they've been fighting, and other random stuff. Soon, Splinter walked in and talked to her about how she met Mikey and how they became mutants and stuff like that.

"Back when I used to go to school, I got good science grades. I guess I kinda miss school, but I'm not going back. Ever."

"Since you apparently did well in science, do you mind helping me in my lab? None of these meatheads ever know what I'm talking about." said Donnie.

"Well, maybe we _would_ know what you talk about if you spoke English!" said Raph.

"Sure, let's go." said Leera. As Donnie led the way, Leera couldn't help but wonder what she would find there. What would a mutant turtle keep in a lab, anyway?

When they arrived at the door to the lab, Donnie entered the code into the number pad (Leera memorized the code: 2195) and they walked in. Donnie's lab was quite a big space: just the lab itself was bigger than her entire home. Donnie led her to a table, on which was what seemed to be a large beaker draped with a white cloth. She carefully pulled off the cloth, revealing around two liters of mutagen. Leera froze; it looked familiar.

"...What's that?..." she asked.

"It's mutagen. replied Donnie. "Why, what's wrong?"

"It looks...familiar. Where'd you get it?"

"I'll show you. Wait here." As Donnie left to go find something, Leera couldn't help but snoop around. This place was so cool! She soon found something else covered in a white cloth; a large, cylinder-shaped canister. Leera pulled back the cloth just before Donnie returned with a big lump of metal over his shoulders.

"What _is _that?" asked Leera.

"His name is Timothy. He used to be human, but he wanted to be a mutant like me and my brothers. I'm sure he wasn't expecting something like this."

"Is he the Timothy that went missing?"

"Yup." There was a small pause as Leera gathered her thoughts. Donnie slid the Kraang bot off his shoulder and onto the the table. Leera put the white cloth back over Timothy's container.

"Anyway, this is a Kraang droid. There's a little alien brain thing that sits here..." Donnie pointed to the big gap in the robot, "...and controls it. The Kraang are alien robots from dimension X, and they brought this substance called mutagen to Earth with them. It turned me, my brothers, and Master Splinter into what we are now. What I'm trying to do is study the mutagen to see if there's a way that I might be able to turn Timothy back into a human. Leera?"

Leera was staring wide-eyed into the distance. She was thinking hard.

"Donnie...I _remember_ now."

Raph was on the stone couch, reading a magazine, while Leo was sitting on the floor in front of the TV watching reruns of Space Heroes. Mikey was sitting on the couch beside Raph.

"So what do you guys think of Leera?" asked Mikey.

"She's ok." replied Raph. He was never very talkative when he was reading a magazine.

"What about you, Leo?"

"She seems nice, but I think we should be careful. We've known her for less than a day, and I don't know if we can trust her yet." said Leo. He didn't look up from the TV, even though he already saw this episode three times now.

"But she's really nice! And she let me spend the night at her place. Why don't you trust her?"

"Well, you see, Mikey, you trust people too easily."

"What? No I don't!"

"You trusted Chris Bradford, and we all know how _that_ turned out." said Raph, not looking up from his magazine.

"But I trusted Leatherhead, didn't I? And he turned out to be an ally."

"_And_ he almost killed us. Including you." said Leo. "Face it, Mikey. You're too trusting. You need to be more careful in the future." Mikey slumped in his seat with his arms crossed. He was defeated.

"She's still my friend."

"Remember what? What happened when you were kidnapped?" asked Donnie. Leera nodded.

"The mutagen, the robot, the Kraang, it all seems so familiar, and now I know why. Because it was _them_. Kraang. They mutated me...and...It _hurt_."

"You mean...the Kraang mutated you? But you look human!"

"Well, as much as I try to be, I'm not." Leera took off her light blue beanie hat, and her big oval-shaped ears perked up instantly.

"Bat ears?" asked Donnie. Leera nodded. "Can you hear what the others are talking about?"

Leera's ears swiveled around -something that they didn't do much, considering that they're under a beanie most of the time- and froze.

"They're saying that they don't trust me. That Mikey trusts people too easily. Something about somebody named Chris Bradford and Leatherhead." said Leera.

"Hmm...Interesting. Are your ears your only mutation?"

"No." Leera took off her shoes and showed him her bat feet.

"I sleep upside-down at home. Is that weird?" Donnie smiled. "You're half bat, and you're asking a mutant turtle what he thinks is weird?" Leera laughed. She took off her jacket, revealing a pair of bat wings, each at least 5 feet long. Leera then flew up to one of the horizontal pipes on the ceiling and hung onto it with her feet, hanging upside-down.

"Wanna go scare you brothers?" asked Leera. Donnie nodded. "You bet!"

**Yes, Leera is half bat! She's half fruit bat, not vampire bat, although that would be cool too! So how will Mikey Raph and Leo react when they find out she's a mutant? O.O Ideas and/or suggestions are appreciated! More reviews = faster update!**


	3. Chapter 3: Land, Sea and finally Air

Here was the plan: Leera quietly sneaks out of the lab and hides in the branches of the tree in the dojo. Donnie then goes into the living room and tells Raph, Mikey and Leo that he needs to show them something. When they're all in the dojo, Leera flies out of the tree and scares the crap out of them.

"Guys, I want to show you something." said Donnie as he walked into the room.

"Where's Leera?" asked Mikey.

"She's in the dojo. Waiting for you guys." Once they were all in the dojo, Donnie stood facing the tree, so his brothers won't be able to see Leera.

"What do you want to show us?" asked Leo.

"And where's Leera?" repeated Mikey.

"Leera's right behind you." said Donnie. The three turtles slowly turned around.

"BOO!" Leera was hovering behind them.

"AAAAHHHH!" yelled Raph and Leo.

"EEEEEEEEEEK!" screamed Mikey.

Leera then flew over to the tree and hung upside-down on one of the branches with her bat feet.

"Donnie, no more mutagen for you!" said Raph.

"I didn't do anything! She was like this when she came here!" Mikey walked up to Leera, who was still upside-down.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were a bat mutant? I thought you were my friend." said Mikey. Leera flew down and stood in front of Mikey.

"I _am _your friend, Mikey. I just wanted to wait a little longer to see if I could trust you."

"You mean you don't trust me?"

"Mikey, you're a nice guy, but I'm not gonna spill all my secrets to the first nice person I meet. I think you should have learned that from someone named Chris Bradford."

"How do you know about him?"

"You, Leo and Raph were talking earlier and I heard his name."

"Oh. Wait, you told Donnie that you're a mutant!"

"Well, technically, he found out. I saw the mutagen in his lab and I remembered what happened to me."

"So what happened?"

"Kraang."

"You mean the _Kraang_ mutated you?" asked Leo.

"Yeah, apparently. But I like being half bat cuz now I can fly and listen in on people." Leera hovered in the air for effect.

"It _is_ pretty cool..." said Raph.

"It's too bad _we _can't fly." said Mikey. "That would be awesome!"

"Maybe you _could_ fly." said Leera.

"What do you mean?" asked Donnie.

"Well, Donnie, you've built the Shellraiser for land and the T-sub for water. Maybe your next project could be a helicopter?"

""Great idea!" said Donnie."I'll get started!" Donnie ran off to his lab.

"Great." said Raph. "Like he wasn't in there enough already. If it weren't for us, he'd be living in there like a hermit."

"Well, some people are like that." said Leera. "Turtles included."

* * *

**_One Week Later_**

Raph and Leo were in the living room, trying to beat each other's high scores on the arcade machine. April was helping Donnie in his lab and Mikey and Leera were in the TV pit, eating pizza and chatting.

"What's your favorite color?" asked Mikey. He took a bite of his pizza.

"Um...I like them all, I guess."

"Just say it's orange."

"Ok, it's orange." Mikey giggled. "Ok, my turn." said Leera. "Uh...who's your favorite comic book character?"

"That's easy; Thor. What's yours? What, wait, don't tell me. It's Batman!" Leera laughed.

"Actually, it's Spiderman. But you were close; Batman's my second favorite." Leera took the last piece of pizza from the box.

"Hey! I was gonna eat that!" complained Mikey.

"Well, now I'm gonna eat it." Leera picked off a piece of pepperoni and threw it at Mikey before taking a bite. Mikey caught it with his mouth.

"Om nom num num." They both laughed just as Donnie and April walked into the room.

"Guys! Guys, guess what?" said Donnie. "Me and April finished building the helicopter! Come see it!"

Soon, they were all standing in front of the helicopter, which was covered in a white sheet.

"Gentlemen (and Raphael), we give to you, the Shellicopter!" Donnie pulled the white cloth away, revealing a dark green helicopter.

"Oooooh."

"Dude, _I'm_ in charge of naming stuff." said Mikey. "I would've called it: 'The Shellicopter'!"

"I _did_ call it the Shellicopter." said Donnie.

"Yeah, but _I_ would've called it the Shellicopter."

"Umm, are you sure it's a good idea to paint it _green_? I mean, wouldn't that stand out?" asked Leera.

"I _thought_ one of you would say that." said Donnie. "That's why I, I mean, _we,_ configured it with special melanophores like that of a chameleon to let it alternate colors, depending on the current weather."

The group gave him bored and confused looks.

"English, please?" asked Raph.

"He said it changes colors." said April.

"Why didn't he just say so?" asked Mikey. Donnie sighed.

"Let's go inside." he said. The inside was more spacious than it first seemed from the outside. To their left were 2 pilot seats, surrounded by a large collection of colorful buttons and switches. Above the control panels were 3 large screens.

"Oooooh."

"Since the controls for a helicopter are much more complex than those of the Shellraiser, I'll be the one driving. Leo will be my assistant." said Donnie.

"Where's the windshield?" asked Leera.

"Funny thing; a windshield tends to smash when you ram into a building." answered Donnie. The group then turned to their right.

There was a small bench on the far wall, big enough to hold 1 or 2 people. Opposite that, there was a seat in front of a large map of New York. There was a magnifying glass over it like the one in the Shellraiser. Farther down, there was a chair with several screens in front of it. Attached to the main screen was a video game controller.

"Dude! You installed a video game spot? Awesome!" said Mikey. He ran over to the chair, sat down, and pushed buttons randomly on the controller.

"Mikey, that's not a video game area." said Donnie as he ran over to Mikey. He swiped the controller away from him. "That's the artillery station!"

Mikey sighed and got out of the chair.

"So when are you gonna test drive this thing?" asked Raph.

"Well, we could do it now, if you want."

Mikey sat down in the chair in front of the map. Raph sat in the artillery station, Leera sat on the bench, and Donnie and Leo sat in the pilots' seats.

"Are you guys ready for a test run?" asked Donnie.

"Yeah!"


End file.
